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December 2025 TSM


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Radio Spins its Web: The Beginnings of America’s Radio Broadcasting Networks

By John Schneider W9FGH

     In the beginning of broadcasting, it quickly became apparent that some programs needed to originate from outside the radio studio. Throughout the 1920s competing interests and fragile alliances gradually brought about national networks.

 

The Brief and Brilliant Life of A. H. Grebe

By Dr. Scott A. Caldwell

     That A. H. Grebe was a perfectionist was obvious from the products his company produced. As a radio engineer, inventor, manufacturer, and entrepreneur who owned two radio stations in the New York metro area, operated remote broadcast facilities on land and water, a shortwave station, and was one of the earliest amateur operators—there were few who were his equal.

 

Juniors, Seniors and Master: RCA’s VoltOhmysts of the Vacuum Tube Era

By Rich Post KB8TAD

     The rapidly developing era of radio manufacturing called for equally developing service equipment to keep those radios working. In 1938 John F. Rider and his chief engineer, Jack Akins, came up with a circuit for a high impedance vacuum tube voltmeter (VTVM) that would largely set the standard for the rest of the service-type VTVMs of the era. Rich takes a look at the evolution of these devices.

 

Ham Radio Wars: AM vs. SSB: How Single Sideband Changed Amateur Communications

By Mark Haverstock K8MSH

     In the 1950s, when experimenters discovered that, by removing part of the AM signal, they could transmit farther, cleaner and more efficiently, chatter on the hams bands would forever change—but not without some persistent resistance. Mark traces the slow acceptance of single sideband transmissions.

 

Eastern European Radio Tales Part 1: By Bus to Brno and Belgrade

By Chrissy Brand

     This month Chrissy reports on her travels by bus to Brno, in Czechia, formerly part of Czechoslovakia, and Belgrade, in Serbia, formerly part of Yugoslavia. Her experiences included a stop at the Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, where she found herself surrounded by examples of his genius. 

 

The UK Shipping Forecast as a Radio Landmark

By Georg Wiessala

     Universally, the first thing that occurred to the developers of radio technology was to apply the technology to the dissemination of weather to ships at sea. The UK, being surrounded by water, instituted the Shipping Forecast over 100 years ago and has been celebrating that fact ever since.

 

Restoration and Remodeling of a Viking I Transmitter

By Cory GB Sickles WA3UVV

          There are those of us who enjoy the wider fidelity audio and slower pacing of QSOs that are associated with AM modulation. At his local amateur radio club, he finds a ham restoring a vintage Viking 1 AM transmitter and provides some valuable tips on restoration and encourages others to revive these old but still valuable rigs.

 

Scanning America

By Dan Veeneman

Paulding County, Georgia

 

Federal Wavelengths

By Chris Parris

December Round-up

 

Utility Planet

By Hugh Stegman

2025 Year End Wrap-up

 

Shortwave Utility Logs

By Mike Chace-Ortiz and Hugh Stegman

 

The World of Shortwave Listening

By Rob Wagner VK3BVW

The Changing Korean Broadcasting Landscape

 

The Shortwave Listener

By Fred Waterer

Shortwave Holiday Listening

 

European Radio Scene

By Georg Wiessala

Beautiful and Informative: Data Cards from Radio Magazines

 

Bits and Bytes

By Gayle Van Horn W4GVH

Tuning into the Season: Radio’s Warmest Time of the Year

 

Radio 101

By Ken Reitz KS4ZR

Scanning the Bands with Various Antennas; The Case of the Missing Rotators

 

Amateur Radio Satellites

By Keith Baker KB1SF/VA3KSF

Antennas for Satellite Work

 

Adventures in Radio Restoration

By Rich Post KB8TAD

The Scarce Gonset G-33 Receiver

 

Kits and Kit-Building

By Joe Eisenberg K0NEB

A Visit to a QRP Kit Builder’s Paradise: Pacificon Brings Kit Fun

 

Amateur Radio Insights

By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z

Antenna Launchers and Adulting

 

VHF and Above

By Joe Lynch N6CL

Geminids Plus Cycle 25’s Extended Max: A Winning Combination for December VHF

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